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July 10, 2005
By JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS
Staff writer
A day of fun in the sun on Lake Michigan turned tragic Saturday morning when a 42-foot power boat flipped over southwest
of Holland State Park, claiming one life and sending search and rescue crews into the water for three other men. One of those
men was still missing late Saturday.
A 20-year-old Bristol, R.I., man died from his injuries, authorities said. By early evening, police had still not
identified the deceased, awaiting notification of his family.
The boat's owner and operator, Dave Morison, sustained back injuries and was taken to Holland Hospital. He was in
fair condition late Saturday night.
Throttleman Bob Russell was not injured.
Ottawa County marine officers and others searched about 12 hours for Mike Scaffidi, 42, of Hartland, Wis. Ottawa County
Sheriff's Department Sgt. Kevin Allman said he likely drowned. Search efforts were suspended at dusk.
Scaffidi was wearing a personal floatation device at the time of crash, but it was torn off by the impact of the water,
authorities said. The life vest was found floating near the overturned boat.
"It happened in about 70 feet of water, which makes it a little more difficult to locate objects," said
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Craig Lawrance.
He said the boat was traveling from Grand Haven to Holland as part of a charity event at about 9:40 a.m. when the
driver overcompensated for a missed turn, slowing from about 110 mph to about 70 mph.
"He took the turn too sharply and it flipped and capsized," said Lawrance.
The crash happened two nautical miles southwest of the Holland channel.
It was an otherwise perfect day to be at the beach, with sunny skies and temperatures reaching 85 degrees -- the kind
of summer weekend when cars line both sides of Ottawa Beach Road, the only vehicle access to the state park.
The beach was peppered with people and towels, and the scene belied the somber task at hand southwest of the pierheads
as a Coast Guard helicopter made larger and larger sweeps of the sky looking for the lost boater.
The blue-green water of the lake played host to hundreds of watercraft in every shape and style, from large charter
fishing boats to kayaks.
"You couldn't help but watch the boats," said Tom DeHaan, 47, of Jenison, who was one of the first beach
arrivals at about 9 a.m.
The large and loud boats were already tearing up the water, he said.
"I saw this big spray of water and knew something was wrong ... other boats started circling," DeHaan said.
Todd Mulder, 46, of Zeeland, and Craig Overway, 40, of West Olive, had ventured out into Lake Michigan early with
three youngsters for a day of fishing.
Their 18-foot fishing boat was about a quarter-mile from the path of the high-powered boats when the incident occurred.
"It just appeared he decided to make a drastic left turn. The boat just dug in and flipped. There were no other
boats in the way, no waves," said Mulder.
Witnesses said the wall of white-water spray created by the boat crashing back onto the surface was massive.
"The impact on the water looked like a bomb had gone off," Mulder said.
Water shot up 50 to 60 feet and was still falling back to the surface as Mulder grabbed the mic on the marine radio
and alerted the Coast Guard to the crash.
Within 30 seconds, he heard other boaters calling in, and moments after the boat capsized, several boats had reached
the scene and were helping pull victims from the water, he said.
A Coast Guard boat positioned at the end of the channel immediately raced to the scene.
"He opened it up and booked -- he went full steam ahead out there," said DeHaan of the Coast Guard vessel.
Lawrance said the Coast Guard's 25-foot boat reached the crash scene within 3 minutes.
The man who died was alert when first pulled from the water, said Lawrance, but he was soon unconscious and Coast
Guard officers began CPR while still on the big lake. At 10:06 a.m., the victim was pronounced dead.
Lawrance said the men were part of a Smoke on the Water Poker Run that included 60 to 70 boats.
The charity event involves boaters making stops at various locations on land and in the water to collect cards for
a poker hand.
The two-day event is based in Grand Haven and has been held annually since 2001, according to a Smoke on the Water
Web site. Boaters take a 141-mile course with stops in South Haven, Holland, Muskegon and White Lake.
A poker run is not a race, according to the event organizers. It's a game of chance, and speed does not determine
the outcome of the game.
Each participating boat navigates a charted course, stopping at five checkpoints along the way, collecting playing
cards in sealed envelopes at each stop.
At the final checkpoint, the envelopes are collected from the boaters, opened and the crew with the best poker hand
is declared the winner.
Smoke on the Water has helped raise more than $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan, say organizers.
Contact John Charles Robbins at (616) 546-4269 or john.robbins@hollandsentinel.com.
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